High-tailing it to Highclere

So I’m sitting with a group of ladies at The Sacred Heart Church of Hartsdale’s boffo combined St. Patrick’s-St. Joseph’s Day party and what should the conversation turn to but Downton, Downton, Downton. It seems we can’t get enough of the fictional Crawleys upstairs and their faithful staff downstairs. Neither can Sterling Silver Tours.

The Seattle-based company was founded by a group of teachers and journalists who love history and travel. From Aug. 31 through Sept. 7, the group, which is open to the general public, will hit the mother lode of historical journeys with an inaugural tour inspired by PBS’ “Downton Abbey.”

Among the features will be an excursion to Highclere Castle, the setting of “Downton”; a crash course in the ways of being a butler at one of Britain’s finest butler schools; a behind-the-scenes peek with “The World of Downton Abbey” author Jessica Fellowes, who is the niece of the show’s creator, Julian Fellowes; a private tour of a costume shop used in creating the show’s fashions; a whiskey tasting; etiquette lessons; a Roaring ’20s-themed fancy dress party and, of course, afternoon tea. The cost is $2,695, not including airfare, and there’s a $150 discount for putting down a deposit by March 31.

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The winner of a 2018 Folio Women in Media Award, WAG editor-in-chief Georgette Gouveia is the author of the new “The Penalty for Holding” (Less Than Three Press), a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and “Water Music” (Greenleaf Book Group). They’re part of her series of novels, “The Games Men Play,” also the name of the sports/culture blog she writes at thegamesmenplay.com. Readers may find her novel “Seamless Sky” and weekly installments of her “Daimon: A Novel of Alexander the Great” on wattpad.com.